Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation and Research and Development

The Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation bodies (AAT, ACCA, ATT, CIOT, ICAS, ICAEW and STEP) issued topical guidance covering the application of professional standards to the provision of research and development tax credit services on 1 June 2020.

Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT) sets out the principles and standards of behaviour that all members and students of the PCRT bodies must follow in their tax work. The latest version of PCRT came into effect on 1 March 2019 and is supported by supplementary help sheets.

On 1 June, the PCRT bodies issued topical guidance covering the application of professional standards to the provision of research and development (R&D) tax credit services. This project arose initially through the impetus of a group of mainly CIOT and ATT volunteers who were specialists in the area of R&D and who felt it important to make the application of the standards clear to their area of work. The guidance produced was then considered and adopted by all of the PCRT bodies.

The new guidance is available on the Professional Standards sections of the CIOT website and the ATT website.

In addition, there is a new help sheet entitled 'C2 dealing with errors – members in business'. This includes guidance for employees attending to the tax affairs of their employer, and members in practice dealing with their own business's tax affairs.

If members have any queries in relation to PCRT and the application of it to the services they provide, they should email the Professional Standards team ([email protected] or [email protected]).

Jane Mellor

[email protected]